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PESSOLANO GETS SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON AT FONDA

By: Ron Szczerba

Fonda, NY – Earlier this season, Brian Pessolano won one of the 22-lap Dave Lape Memorial events at Fonda, a special win for him as Lape was Pessolano’s idol. Saturday evening at the “Track of Champions” Pessolano led green to checker in a 30-lap caution free event for his second win of the season and second of his career at Fonda on M2 Metals Night.

Other winners on Saturday evening at Fonda were Payton Talbot (Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman), Kenny Gates (Leatherstocking Credit Union Pro Stocks), AJ Greco (Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman), Ken Hollenback (SOHC) and Jay Ingersoll (DOHC) in the Fonda Fair Four Cylinders, and Demetrios Drellos (Late Model).

Pastor Greg Nitz started opening ceremonies with a prayer followed by the National Anthem by Madison Mudge. Rose, Julie, and Heather collected a winning total of $2,553 for Jenn from Oppenheim who was the big winner of the weekly 50/50 prize.

Brian Pessolano and Pep Corradi were on the front row for the start of the 30-lap Amsterdam Truck Center Modified feature event with Pessolano leading at the drop of Joe Kriss’ green flag. By lap four, Pessolano had built up a straightaway advantage over Corradi while further back in the field Alex Yankowski, Jack Lehner, and Rocky Warner were trying to gain as many positions as they could as they are currently the top three drivers in the hunt for the 2024 Track Championship.

At the lap five point in the event, Warner, Yankowski, and Lehner were running seventh, eight, and ninth respectively with 10th place starter Stewart Friesen on the move as well, running fifth after getting by Bobby Hackel IV for the spot. Friesen made a great save after contact by Brian Calabrese got him out of shape at that point while Pessolano was now in lap traffic on lap 12.

When Friesen took the second position away from Corradi, Pessolano was six seconds ahead and without the benefit of a caution, Friesen closed the gap slightly but not enough to put any pressure on the leader for the win. Further back in the field, Yankowski took what he could get and moved past Hackel for the fifth position with three laps to go and then got by Corradi for the fourth position on the final lap.

Pessolano went on to his second win of the season and the second of his career in the Modified division at Fonda in the Dodson Construction #24P. Friesen, Calabrese, Yankowski, and Hackel IV completed the top five while Lehner finished sixth and Warner 10th. Going into Benjamin Moore Paints Championship Night next Saturday at Fonda, Yankowski holds a 14 point lead as he goes for his first Fonda Speedway Track Championship.

“We’ve been struggling with this car for the last month,” Pessolano said. “Every week we’re saying to ourselves why do we keep bringing it. It’s been a struggle but tonight we threw some stuff at it, I didn’t know how far back anybody was I just had to go as fast as I could. The car handled real well, seems like hopefully we found something now.”

The Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman feature was a wild, unruly, event featuring a violent wreck on a lap four restart. Harry Shaffer started on the pole and took the lead at the drop of the green with third place starter Brett Mortensen in tow.
Twelfth place starter Payton Talbot was up to the fifth position by lap four when the first wreck of the event took place in turns three and four. Talbot made a three wide move in turn three as he got under Jeremy Tyrrell while Dylan Madsen was on the outside of both of them. When Talbot and Tyrrell made contact going into the turn, Tyrrell also made contact with Madsen who went hard in the turn four wall. He was okay but done for the night.

On the restart the violent wreck happened coming out of turn four when Dan Santabarbara didn’t get a good start while behind him it was an accordion effect as Talbot, Butchie Irwin, and others on the inside row tried to avoid each other. The result was Irwin making contact with Brendan Gibbons sending him into the frontstretch wall. Gibbons went end over end down the straightaway while seven other cars were also involved. Michael McCallion also flipped his car over along with Gibbons but thankfully all drivers involved were okay.

On the restart, Talbot made quick work of both Mortensen and Shaffer and had the lead in the event on lap 11 after passing Shaffer on the inside of turns one and two. Mortensen brought out the caution with 10 laps to go in the event after hitting one of the yuke tires in turn two and collapsing his front end. One more caution flag slowed the field, but Talbot pulled away on the restart and went on to his fourth win of the season and the 15th of his career in the division at Fonda in the Belmont’s Garage #14T.

Seventh place starter Steven Gray ended up second followed by ninth place starter Chad Edwards, 16th place starter Tyler Peet, and Shaffer.

“This car was awesome right off the bat,” Talbot told Mimi Lazzaro in victory lane. “Pretty sketchy starting off but once we got running this car was real good. We fought with Harry (Shaffer) for awhile there just tracking him down but overall, just a real good night for us.”

Gary Silkey led lap one of the Leatherstocking Credit Union Pro Stock feature until third place starter Jason Morrison got by him for the lead on lap two on the backstretch. After being involved in a wreck during his heat race, point leader Kenny Gates started the event in the seventh position and by lap three he was the third place car. On lap four Gates got by Silkey for the second position and two laps later Gates was the new race leader.

Gates went on to his fifth win of the season and the 97th of his career in the division at Fonda in the Happy Returns/DTD/Upstate Spray Foam Insulation sponsored #35 followed in the top five by AJ Walters who made a pass for second on the final lap, Morrison, eighth place starter Ivan Joslin, and Nick Stone.

“This car is on a rail right now,” Kenny Gates said after his win. “I can put it anywhere I want; we’re just flying. The condition of the track suits me perfect so we can fly around the bottom or if we need to go to the top we can do that too. I’m just enjoying the ride right now; we’re still enjoying the ride, so we’ll keep on doing it.”

Maddy Broedel led lap one of the Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman feature but going into turn two on the second lap she hit one of the yuke tires in turn two and collapsed her front end, bringing out the caution. Phil Arnold was the race leader on the restart but that was short lived as AJ Greco took over the lead going into turns one and two when the green flag flew.
Greco led the remaining laps for his fourth victory of the season and the sixth of his career in the division in the Bernie Smith Trucking #12AJ followed in the top five by Arnold, eighth place starter Shawn Gibbons, fifth place starter Walter Cook, and 10th place starter Lance Hill. With the win, Greco clinched the Track Championship in the division going into Benjamin Moore Championship Night next Saturday at Fonda.

“It was super-hot in the car and with the cautions it was taking forever,” Greco said. “Man, I just can’t wait to get out of this fire suit. Luckily, I got square with the yuke tire during that caution, and it didn’t do too much damage when I hit it.”

Ken Hollenback took the lead on a lap three restart and went on to the overall win in Fonda Fair Four Cylinder division for his eighth SOHC win of the season and the 103rd of his career at Fonda. Jay Ingersoll finished second overall, but he was the DOHC winner and also clinched the 2024 Track Championship in the DOHC class. The win was Ingersoll’s sixth of the season and seventh of his career at Fonda. Rudy King Jr., Kerrie Hollenback, and John Napoli completed the overall top five in the feature event.

“I was worried about the restarts, Jay (Ingersoll) is a good restarter, and I can’t trick him too many times,” Hollenback said after the win. “I ran the middle to block a little bit, and it seemed to work.”

“We ended last year with a win during 200 weekend, and I just carried it over to this year,” Ingersoll said after his sixth win of the 2024 season and the seventh of his career at Fonda. “I’m pretty happy that we switched over to Fonda from Glen Ridge, we set the bar pretty high for ourselves and I think we did pretty good with it.”

Derrick McGrew Jr. led the first 11 laps of the 20-lap Late Model feature event presented by M2 Metals but when a caution reset the field, defending Fonda Speedway Modified Track Champion Demetrios Drellos got by the second place car of Dale Caswell and then on lap 12, Drellos got by McGrew Jr. for the lead on the inside of turns one and two. Drellos went on to win followed by McGrew Jr. Caswell, AJ Miller, and Aaron Jacobs.

“Always a blast getting into this car,” Drellos said in victory lane. “I’ve been racing this car on Saturday nights, and I’ve got pretty comfortable with it. It’s good to win here at Fonda, sometimes you just need a change of pace and scenery. It’s a lot of fun and when it comes down to it if this is more fun then this is what we do.”

19 Entries
Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24P-Brian Pessolano[1]; 2. 44-Stewart Friesen[10]; 3. 21C-Brian Calabrese[3]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[8]; 5. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[7]; 6. 85-Jack Lehner[11]; 7. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[2]; 8. 7MM-Michael Maresca[15]; 9. 93-Ryan Odasz[4]; 10. 1-Rocky Warner[9]; 11. 4-Cody Clark[6]; 12. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[12]; 13. 76-Jamike Sowle[5]; 14. 16X-Dan Creeden[14]; 15. 43-Keith Flach[17]; 16. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[13]; 17. 34-Dave Constantino[16]; 18. 66-Don Bellen[18]

24 entries
Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 14T-Payton Talbot[12]; 2. 25-Stephen Gray[7]; 3. 10%-Chad Edwards[9]; 4. 12T-Tyler Peet[16]; 5. 1H-Harry Shaffer[1]; 6. 55-Jonny Feagles[20]; 7. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[4]; 8. 9K-Blaine Klinger[5]; 9. 63-Chip Constantino[10]; 10. 7J-Dan Santabarbara[2]; 11. 78-Tanner Warner[11]; 12. 1M-Mark Mortensen[13]; 13. 4-Al McCoy[22]; 14. 1B-Brett Mortensen[3]; 15. 89-Dylan Madsen[8]; 16. 40D-Butchie Irwin[6]; 17. B24-Brendan Gibbons[15]; 18. 84-Ricky Quick[18]; 19. 00X-Josh Coonradt[24]; 20. 96-Michael McCallion[19]; 21. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner[17]; 22. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[21]; 23. 12B-Tyler Bobar[23]; 24. (DNS) 12P-Connor Prokop

Greco’s NAPA Hard Charger Jonny Feagles +14

11 entries
Leatherstocking Credit Union Pro Stocks
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[7]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters[6]; 3. 715-Jason Morrison[3]; 4. 49-Ivan Joslin[8]; 5. 8N-Nick Stone[5]; 6. 15M-Mike Hill[2]; 7. 1D-Nick Santuccione[4]; 8. 75-Gary Silkey[1]; 9. 62-Nick Danna[11]; 10. (DNS) 74N-Jim Normoyle; 11. (DNS) 96-Andy Graves

17 entries
Montgomery County Office for Aging Limited Sportsman
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 12AJ-AJ Greco[4]; 2. 216-Phil Arnold[2]; 3. 62-Shawn Gibbons[8]; 4. 47-Walter Cook[5]; 5. 22L-Lance Hill[10]; 6. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[7]; 7. 797-Corky Warner[6]; 8. 26-Mason Gray[13]; 9. 13J-Jim Mallia[11]; 10. 538X-Wesley Sutliff[16]; 11. 24-Kirsten Swartz[3]; 12. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[9]; 13. 11-Josh Persse[14]; 14. 16H-Dylan Hutson[12]; 15. 26B-Maddy Broedel[1]; 16. (DNS) 2-Brandon Tyler

Special thanks to Bobby Rhinehardt who donated $30 to the 6th (Tim Wilmot), 1st (AJ Greco), and 8th (Mason Gray) place feature finishers

Greco’s NAPA Hard Charger Wesley Sutliff +6

13 entries
Fonda Fair Four Cylinders
Feature (12 Laps): 1. 12S-Ken Hollenbeck[8]; 2. 97JD-Jay Ingersoll[7]; 3. 666D-Rudy King Jr[9]; 4. 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck[13]; 5. 3D-John Napoli[12]; 6. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[5]; 7. K1S-William Liberatore[1]; 8. 212S-TJ Marlitt[4]; 9. 420XS-Tim Warner[2]; 10. 17RD-Joe Bouck Jr[10]; 11. 223S-Josh Beals[11]; 12. 29JD-John Ray[3]; 13. 42D-Hayleigh Gates[6]

Both Ken Hollenback (SOHC) & Jay Ingersoll (DOHC) received $50 each from Upstate Auto

6 entries
M2 Metal Crate Late Models
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 111-Demetrios Drellos[3]; 2. 26-Derrick McGrew Jr[2]; 3. 13-Dale Caswell[1]; 4. 14AJ-AJ Miller[5]; 5. 16-Aaron Jacobs[4]; 6. (DNS) 17-Rob Pitcher

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